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03/22/2006:

"'Northern Iraq Ruled by Force and Fear'"

The weekly news magazine, Time, wrote two parties ruling the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq restrict freedoms and the democratic process.

The magazine focusing on the region reported corruption and repression prevail in the region ruled by the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The two parties' despotic tendencies repress their opponents, it was underlined, and that the KDP and PUK rule the region by "force and fear."

The parties led by Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani function almost as a police state and views that, "Instead of one big Saddam, we have a hundred small Saddams in Kurdistan," Time reported.

Access to education, jobs and career advancement is often determined by party affiliation and there is no independent media in the region, Time wrote.
The weekly news magazine handled the problems in northern Iraq in the story titled "Trouble in Kurdistan." The frustration at this "dual monopoly" appear to have been behind a violent outburst last week at Halabja, the town on which Saddam Hussein inflicted a barbaric chemical attack in 1988, killing 5,000 people.
zaman.com